![]() ![]() Music keys meaning full#Noisy shouts of joy, laughing pleasure and not yet complete, full delight lies in E Major. If ghosts could speak, their speech would approximate this key. Every fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes out of horrible D# minor. The key of love, of devotion, of intimate conversation with God.įeelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair, of blackest depression, of the most gloomy condition of the soul. Melancholy womanliness, the spleen and humours brood. ![]() Thus, the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday songs and heaven-rejoicing choruses are set in this key. The key of triumph, of Hallelujahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. Penitential lamentation, intimate conversation with God, the friend and help-meet of life sighs of disappointed friendship and love lie in its radius. Consequently only unusual characters and feelings can be brought out in this key. It cannot laugh, but it can smile it cannot howl, but it can at least grimace its crying. All languishing, longing, sighing of the love-sick soul lies in this key.Ī leering key, degenerating into grief and rapture. Its character is: innocence, simplicity, naïvety, children's talk.ĭeclaration of love and at the same time the lament of unhappy love. Here’s that full list by Christian Schubart. So we must assume, then, that it’s likely Mozart, for example, choosing G major for a piece, would expect you to feel that it was "rustic, idyllic and lyrical." One thing is clear to me: composers from before the 20th century lived in a time when most people believed that musical keys did have characteristics, and music using them would make you feel a particular way. Or perhaps certain musical pitches are more in harmony with the natural resonance of a room, or even our bodies. The gaps between each note were not even like they are today, so different keys really did sound different, not just higher or lower. All languishing, longing, sighing of the love-sick soul lies in this key.ĭo you buy into this? Keyboard instruments were tuned differently in Schubart's day. The full list is below, but here are two of my favourites from his poetic descriptions:ĭ sharp minor: Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair, of blackest depression, of the most gloomy condition of the soul.Ĭ Minor: Declaration of love and at the same time the lament of unhappy love. ![]() The German composer and writer Christian Schubart made a list of the musical keys and what they might mean, in a book he published in 1802. ![]() What if a particular musical key made you feel a particular way, or had certain associations? That a piece in D minor, for example, would be immediately melancholic? Or a work in G would be bright and cheerful? It’s a widely held belief. How about something more mysterious? Esoteric even? So that’s the practical side of musical keys. Chopin did the same with his preludes and so did Shostakovich. It’s actually two sets of 24: a major and a minor one for each of the 12 keys. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier has 48 preludes and fugues. For example, there might be a system in place. There are other practical reasons a composer might choose a key. You need to choose a key that lets a choir resonate, or enables an opera singer to really sparkle. If you want the instrument to play something with comfort and ease - and for it to shine - you choose a certain part of the range. So a composer would have had to think carefully about this before starting.Įven in more modern times, instruments have a certain range (the span between their lowest and highest notes). More importantly, a few hundred years ago, some instruments could ONLY play in certain keys.Ī trumpet in Bach and Vivaldi’s day, for example, could only play in certain keys unless you did some plumbing, choosing different tubes to affect the pitch. Certain musical instruments are happier in certain keys. It’s the scale that its notes generally fall under, and the particular notes and chords that feel like "home" when they arrive.īut how does a composer decided on the key? Well there are practical and other, altogether more mysterious, reasons. The "key" is one of the defining characteristics of a piece of music. How does a composer choose the key for a piece of music? ![]()
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